Politics

Park's Chief of Staff Vows to Step Down if Illicit Fund Accusations Proven

Write : 2015-05-01 15:27:24Update : 2015-05-02 11:13:14

Presidential Chief of Staff Lee Byung-kee has denied his alleged involvement in the growing Sung Woan-jong scandal, vowing to resign if the accusations are proven to be true.

During a meeting of the House Steering Committee of the National Assembly on Friday, Lee said it is not right to step down just because his name appeared on the controversial list the deceased businessman left behind before his suicide last month.

The presidential chief of staff then stressed that he is willing to appear for the prosecution's questioning, vowing to step down if the current accusations are found to be true.

The former head of the National Intelligence Service was responding to Rep. You Dae-woon of the main opposition party who urged Lee to resign for a fair investigation into the scandal.

Regarding the revelation that the late Sung talked with Lee on the phone on over 140 occasions in one year, Lee said that he generally answers every phone call to him, adding that he had known Sung for over 30 years.

While denying suspicions that he received money from the deceased construction businessman, Lee said he still feels sorry to the public for being mentioned in the scandal.

Meanwhile, during the House Steering Committee meeting, Rep. Sim Hag-bong of the ruling Saenuri Party criticized main opposition party chairman Moon Jae-in for denying his involvement in the controversial special pardons that Sung received under the Roh Moo-hyun administration.

Sim said that it makes no sense for Moon, then Roh’s chief of staff, not to know about the pardons.